Sometimes, a best friend can go on to become the best husband or wife anyone could hope for. There is a watershed, where the friendship spills over into romance, but knowing whether your friend feels the same way you do can be difficult. Here are some tips when you want to date your best friend:
Analyze the friend’s feelings
A friend who has been around for as long as you can remember will sometimes become irresistibly attractive as a dating proposition. If you have a friend you think you would like to date, tread very cautiously at first. Assess the friend’s body language and decide whether they are really giving you the right signals or whether you are only seeing what you want to see and ignoring their true feelings.
Test the friend’s feelings
Someone who is adept at letting someone know they find them attractive is easier to deal with. They will let you know by touching your arm or pressing against your shoulder or putting their face close to yours, that they want something more than friendship. People who are not so tactile are also not so easy to read. In this case, try a few experimental moves. Put your own hand on their arm and see if they pull away. Watch and see if they take the opportunity to pull away tactfully after a few moments, perhaps not wishing to seem tactless.
Spend time just being friends
Make an opportunity to spend time alone but still in a friendly capacity. See if the person will take advantage of this chance to let you know they would like more than friendship. Do not rush the situation and risk losing their friendship, which after all is probably more valuable than any romance might turn out to be. Do not tell anyone what your feelings are and risk your friend being tipped off about the way you feel by someone else, especially if that person is likely to laugh about it or make the situation seem comical in some way.
How to start the new relationship
Once your friend has agreed that they would like to date, don’t go crazy and start booking dinner in the fanciest restaurant in town and making an enormous fuss about where you go and what you do. If you have enjoyed being with this person for a long time, you probably have a routine of things you like to do together and there is no reason why your choice of entertainment should change just because you are now seeing each other romantically. Be yourself and your new found partner will enjoy your company as much as they always have.
Breaking up the relationship
Should the romance not work out and the time comes when it has to end, there is every risk that your original friendship might have been spoiled by the closer relationship you had subsequently. If you talk sensibly and both retain a sense of duty to each other as friends there is no reason why your friendship should not be resumed, unless you are absolutely devastated by the termination of your role as lover. Don’t try to pretend your romance never happened, as this can be awkward. Just continue to be the good pal you have always been.
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